


Waltz for the Moon

by purple_bookcover



Category: Final Fantasy VIII, Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dance, Crossover, F/M, Fluff, dorothea is rinoa, felix is squall, this is the ballroom dance scene
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-10
Updated: 2020-06-10
Packaged: 2021-03-04 04:07:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 918
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24647698
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/purple_bookcover/pseuds/purple_bookcover
Summary: Felix (Squall) just wants to hide during this stupid party. But Dorothea (Rinoa) finds him and insists he dance.A retelling of the ballroom dance scene in FFVIII with Dorothea/Felix from FE3H.
Relationships: Dorothea Arnault/Felix Hugo Fraldarius
Comments: 2
Kudos: 8





	Waltz for the Moon

**Author's Note:**

  * For [fraldariuwus (sakesword)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/sakesword/gifts).



> Hope I got this right, Light.

A star shot overhead, carving a silver path through the night sky. Felix blinked. He hadn’t realized how long he’d been staring off at nothing, but the stillness of the heavens was somehow more interesting than the party unfolding around him.

He sighed, refocusing on the ballroom. Half his fellow SEED students were drunk; all of them were dressed up, trying to impress someone, or perhaps just themselves. 

Felix tsked. Empty bullshit. What did the uniforms and ceremonies matter? All that mattered was the mission of being a SEED and Squall could do that without this stupid party. 

He didn’t realize he was staring at the woman in the white dress until she looked right back at him, pointing up at the sky. When he paused, tilting his head in confusion, she smirked a little. The clack of her high heels cut through the music and chatter as she approached.

Felix felt his chest tighten. She was beautiful, chestnut hair spilling around her, that white dress clinging to her body. But why was she headed toward _him_? He tried to press closer to the lonely corner where he’d chosen to hide and wait out the event, but the shadows couldn’t hide him from her.

She stood right before him, sizing him up unabashedly. 

“Excuse me,” Felix said.

“Dorothea,” she said. 

“What?” 

“My name,” she said. “It’s Dorothea.” She waited, raising an eyebrow. “This is the part where you tell me yours.”

“Felix,” he muttered.

“Well, Felix, you’re the best looking guy here. Dance with me?”

He sipped his champagne to conceal his reaction, but she just kept pressing.

“Come on,” Dorothea said. “What? Do you need to be in love with me just to dance?” She sighed, then her gaze turned sharp. Dorothea put a finger under Felix’s chin, forcing him to look at her. “You’re-going-to-like-me. You’re-going-to-like-me. Did it work?”

She backed off, but Felix was feeling no less flustered for all that. “I can’t dance.” He had to say _something_. 

“Oh, come on. Big, bad SEED can’t even dance? You’ll be fine. Get over it.”

With that, she grabbed his hand and started to pull him toward the dance floor. Felix stumbled. Even so, he could have pulled away, he could have broken free if he really wanted to. So why was he still tripping after her right to the center of the dance floor?

She stopped, turning toward him, placing Felix’s hand on her waist. Dorothea began a simple box step, but Felix was hopelessly lost from the first move. He stumbled against her before finally breaking away and attempting to leave. 

But Dorothea persisted, correcting their posture, launching into a simpler pattern that even Felix could follow. He felt a momentary surge of victory; he was keeping pace, or at least not stepping on her. Then Dorothea pushed him out wide. Felix felt himself hit the end of his tether before Dorothea pulled him back toward her, as though he’d actually done an elegant spin. 

He barely managed to keep upright as he stuttered back toward Dorothea, but he had too much momentum. Felix ran right into her, instantly jerking away.

That was enough. More than enough. This was embarrassing, humiliating and completely pointless on top of all that.

Felix got no more than a few steps away before Dorothea grabbed him by the wrist. To his dying day, Felix would never know why he let her pull him back then, why he fell back into her gravity, why when she put up her hand he raised his own to meet it. 

They stood parallel to each other, bodies apart now. Somehow, that calmed the heat in Felix’s face, quieted the frantic voice in his mind screaming at him to get out, get out, _get out!_

When she started moving, he understood. 

They stayed apart, only their hands touching as they started stepping in an orderly box formation. It was more march than dance. They even let their hands fall apart completely at one point, sliding around each other. This, Felix could do. This, he understood. 

And thus, even when Dorothea took his hand again, the panic was gone. She pushed in close, but it didn’t make him want to flee this time; he was still in control of this moment. Dorothea moved the momentum outward. He felt it like a yoyo spinning away from him. She stepped out, flinging an arm wide, then wound back in, spinning, turning into his arm, coming to rest right there against his chest.

They stood so close their toes were nearly touching. Felix still had his arm around her from her turn; Dorothea was still pressing her hand against his. 

There was a moment of fear – a pinprick at the back of his mind, a distant siren warning him of danger to come. But then the lights in the ballroom faded and in their place came brilliant bursts of color – red and blue and green. Fireworks exploded overhead, turning the ceiling into stained glass, painting the SEEDs below. 

Felix didn’t realize he was still holding Dorothea until he felt her pull away. She looked past him now, waving an apology when he noticed. When she slipped from his arms, he felt oddly cold, oddly empty. 

All he could do was watch as she slipped back into the crowd, the clicks of her high heels tapping like drumbeats in Felix’s chest, each thump a little quieter, a little farther away, a little harder to reach. Then, she was gone.

**Author's Note:**

> I love FFVIII but mostly write FE3H atm. Planning another FFVIII crossover some day. 
> 
> I'm on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/purplebookcover) (18+ please).
> 
> I respond to every comment. Thank you, friends!


End file.
